NCAA Championships 2023, Day 4: Upsets from the Underdogs, By Sam Fariss for RunBlogRun

We are so happy to have Sam Fariss writing for RunBlogRun again. In this third of her series on the NCAA Champs, Sam Fariss writes about the big surprises that happened on the fourth and final day in Austin, Texas. 

NCAA Championships 2023, Day 4: Upsets from the Underdogs

By Sam Fariss for RunBlogRun

AUSTIN, TEXAS – The final day of the NCAA championships was stuffed to the brim with exciting moments and, shockingly, some upsets in races that seemed to have results written in the stars ahead of the firing guns.

With all-star track athletes like Britton Wilson, Arkansas junior, and Greta Karinauskaite, CBU junior, competing in their best events on Saturday evening, everyone expected the night to go their way. However, the upsets started in just the third race of the day when Olivia Markezich, Notre Dame junior, took the 3000-meter steeplechase by storm.

Karinauskaite led nearly all seven and a half laps until Markezich pulled ahead and never looked back. The Fighting Irish runner flew along the final stretches of the race and crossed the finish line in just 9:25.03 – earning a collegiate lead and facility record and beating her own career record.

“I just wanted to stay up with (the race leader) and close as hard as I can. This is something I have been dreaming of,” Markezich said. “So, I’m super happy.”

The fifth-ranked Markezich had a personal best nearly 10 seconds slower than that of Karinauskaite but had a faster qualifying time on Thursday.

Wilson, the defending 400-meter hurdles NCAA champion and fifth-place finisher at the World Athletics Championships in 2022, was expected to take home the titles in both the open 400 meters as well as a repeat in the hurdles event.

In the open 400-meter foot race, apparently, nobody accounted for the home-field advantage that Texas junior Rhasidate Adeleke had in her back pocket. As the runners rounded the back curve, the stadium erupted in roars of support, and it was apparent that Adeleke had the lead on not only Wilson but the entire field, including two other Arkansas Razorbacks.

The Longhorn crossed the finish line in a mere 49.20 seconds, crushing the facility record, setting the meet record, and earning a personal best. The cherries on top? She ran the third fastest time in the world for the event so far this season, and she got to do it…